D.C. statehood: Advancing the cause of Democrats? Or democracy?

Eleanor Holmes Norton’s family has been fighting for equality since the 1800s, when her great-grandfather escaped slavery to come work in Washington, D.C., but – as she puts it – “didn’t quite find his freedom.”

She grew up in segregated neighborhoods, went on to Yale Law School, and has represented the District of Columbia in Congress for 30 years. Yet as a delegate, she has never been allowed to vote on a piece of legislation – not even her recent bill to grant the district statehood, which would give...